Enumbers and Infidelity
by a daughter called random
Summary: She takes the stairs hurriedly and she doesn’t listen to his shouts for her to come back. The tears are falling freely now and she must look so unattractive. Must be why Gabriel chose the other woman.


**I hope you like this. I am a little unsure of it but.. ho-hum. ****The woman in this has no ability and no relevance to the series, I made her up. **

**The rest is all Tim Krings. I do not own Heroes. Reviews are love! :) **

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Elle sits in the van with Noah and she can feel the smugness rolling off him in waves. She is becoming far too eager about these trips to a certain apartment in Queens and Noah is noticing it, and finding it awfully funny.

He is logging something onto his Company laptop; she peers to see what it is.  
_Date: 30__th__ August 2006  
__Location: Queens, New York.  
Mission: To teach Elle to mind her own business and stop being nosy. _

And she's been caught reading. She huffs and sits back, glaring at him. He gives her a small smile as he presses back space, to remove his message to her.  
"You'll be in trouble today" he says.  
"Oh, will I?" she replies, gazing out of the window and slurping _Slusho!_ determinedly.  
"I believe so, because you're later than usual and you haven't got him a pie"  
"Why can't we bring him Zeitlan now?" she sighs, nettled by his pie comment.  
"Because, Elle, he is a child, getting used to a new plaything." Noah gives her look, like what he is saying is the most obvious thing in the world. And Elle isn't quite sure if the "plaything" is telekinesis, or _her_. "We can't rush Gabriel…baby steps, Elle, one toy...then another"

She could swear he was almost enjoying this.

"Oh, shut up, Glasses" is the only response she can think of, so, with that, she gets out the van. She stomps into the apartment building, still drinking copious E-numbers through a straw, and goes over to the elevator. Then presses the button. And waits. She taps her little foot on the ground. And waits some more. And sighs. Then she presses again. Nothing.  
"S'outta order…"  
She rounds at the voice and there is a middle-aged man, in grubby maintenance overalls, stood behind her. She is suddenly quite angry. She almost sparks her slush-puppy into oblivion. "What the hell do you mean 'it's out of order'?" she hisses through gritted teeth.  
He shrugs. "Sorry, love, you'll have to take the stairs" _Oh, what she wouldn't give to electrocute this man._ Just a bit. Just until he is a little crispy. Hmm… perhaps not. It seems a bit extreme. So she gives him her sweetest, fakest smile and, turning her attention back to her drink, goes for the stairs. That's when she sees the big "ELEVATOR OUT OF USE" sign. Definitely too eager about these trips. Definitely too distracted.

It takes a lot longer than she first predicted to get up three flights of stairs. And the fact that she really, _really _needs the toilet is not helping. Why did she have such a big _Slusho! _? It's so big that it's still half full when she finally reaches Gabriel's apartment. She blows out a gust of air and she notes it's quivering slightly. Anticipation? Nerves? Something else entirely? She readies herself to knock when she hears voices, one slightly raised, on the other side.

"Look, really, you…you need to go….I'm expecting someone important, and you're kinda done here…" She smiles when she hears Gabriel's voice, soft and hesitant, trying to be assertive. _Someone important._ That makes her heart swell two times its normal size. She hopes that someone is herself. She almost knows it.

"Aw…can't I just stay a little longer?" coos another voice, and Elle's smile slides off her face instantaneously when she realises it's female. "Who're you expecting?" the voice sounds amused, flirtatious. Blue sparks fizzle at Elle's finger tips. _I swear to God…_ she thinks. And also, _why is there another woman in Gabriel's apartment? _This thought is accompanied with such a surge of jealousy that Elle is almost surprised by her own feelings.

"My…ah, my... girlfriend, yeah she'll be here so… so you-" he sounds miffed at being argued with, but also unsure, like he is being backed into a corner and the way his voice cuts off… Elle's anger increases and she decides she is going to barge in there and frazzle this intruder to within an inch of her life if she so much as attempts to _touch_ her Gabriel.

She curls her hand around the door knob and to her astonishment, it is unlocked. She takes another deep breath and promptly walks in, calling to the room as she does, "Hey, Gabriel! I know I'm late, but-" her voice breaks off when she sees the scene in front of her. Her baby-blue eyes go round and child-like; her breath catches in a choked gasp and her _Slusho!_ slips from her fingers and crashes to the ground, the contents spilling across the carpet, staining it blood red.

Gabriel _is_ literally backed up in a corner, his glasses askew and his arms pinned to the wall, half stuck-out in protest. But this strange, weak image is not what shatters Elle's heart into a million, trillion fragile glass pieces. There is a woman who she does not know or recognise - with pitch-black hair that cascades down her slim back, dressed in an expensive looking, fitted suit- practically _draped _over him.

And their lips are locked.

He pulls away from the woman quickly at the sight of her at the door (as he rips their lips apart, they make that classical squeaky kissing noise and Elle almost breaks in two) and breathes out in a terrified, confused whisper "Elle!"

The woman looks around, a big grin is plastered on her face, and it hits Elle like a punch in the stomach, because she is so _pretty_. Rosy skin, large green eyes, plump lips– not all small and skinny like Elle. Supermodel standard and she is kissing _her _man. Her man and this_ bitch_ are _kissing_. Elle's lips tremble and the woman's smile gets impossibly wider. "Is that your girlfriend?" she asks the watchmaker, her voice self-righteous and knowing.

Gabriel makes a high-pitched noise of confirmation in the back of his throat, and behind his glasses, his beautiful, profound eyes are begging Elle, pleading, screaming, trying to tell her but she isn't in the mood for listening anymore. When she speaks, her voice is relatively calm, collected. You can only tell a little bit that she is dying inside. "Ex," she tells the woman and turns, shutting the door on her way out.

She takes the stairs three at a time, skidding and stumbling and she doesn't pay heed to Gabriel's shouts for her to come back, that he can explain. The tears are falling freely, thick and fast, blinding her; her eyes feel swollen already and gummy snot runs unchecked down her lip, and _God_, she must look so unattractive. _Must be why Gabriel chose the other woman. _

She trips on the last stair and goes sprawling onto the tiled floor. She lies there for a moment, crying. She hears that man's voice again, "You alright, love?" and she scrambles to her feet. Elle staggers away from the building, to the van, and she fumbles with the door, tears clouding her eyes. She is slightly frightened of getting in, because Glasses will have seen the CCTV. She is scared he will laugh. Or say _I told you so_. But Noah doesn't get out, move her away, help her into the car. He knows he would just get fried viciously. She doesn't want his help. She collapses into her seat, her head on the dash board and he lets her weep; he doesn't laugh at her and he certainly doesn't say _I told you so_.

It's a little silly really. And they both know it. She shouldn't be so attached. And they'll be back, whether she likes it or not, because it's their job. But for now, he puts the van in gear and zooms away quickly; because he knows the longer they stay the longer she will hurt. It's silly, because if Elle hadn't been so emotional about that Gabriel was cheating on her -she could think of no other way to describe it- she would have noticed the badge the woman wore. The one that stated that she was a member of the company that was fixing the elevator; the one that says she is the woman who talks to members of the apartment building, making arrangements for those that desperately need the elevator.

It's silly, because if Noah hadn't speeded off so swiftly that they were out of the street in a good twenty seconds, they would have heard the loud, keening, ripping noise that leaked from a third floor window.

They would have heard the harsh, ear-splitting scream of agony the poor elevator lady let out as Gabriel Gray killed her.


End file.
